Bremen’s paper of record, The Bremen Enquirer, was founded in November of 1885 by Brook H Bowman (1858-1931). This year marks the end of that 132-year run, as the paper is combined with other local papers in the Pilot-News Group and rechristened Heartland News.

One of the first things Bowman did was catalog the businesses present in Bremen at the time. A long article listed the likes of JR Dietrich’s dry goods and grocery, John Huff’s furniture and undertaking, WF Schilt’s flour mill, and August Dettbrenner’s blacksmith shop, as well as the various shoemakers, barbers, dressmakers, saloons, churches, and even newspapers. Notably, unlike most newspapers of the time, the Enquirer would be entirely non-political. Plymouth, for example, had the Democrat, the Republican, and the Independent, as well as the Pilot, which rolled presses in 1851. Bowman did, however, take a strong stand against cows being allowed to roam the town freely.

Bremen already had a newspaper as well, one run by grocers and brothers George & Lee Sunderland called The Bremen Banner. Bowman and the Sunderlands didn’t get along, and their animosity sometimes spilled over into the pages of their periodicals with items like “Lee Sunderland Once More Shoots off his Bazoo”. But the Banner eventually folded, and other rags came and went as well. The Enquirer stayed, albeit always run on a shoelace. At times, the paper advertised subscriptions in exchange for firewood.

Bowman sold the paper to Cal Sinninger (1854-1934) in 1890. Sinninger had helped gather stories and put the paper together since the beginning and came back to town from a stint at a Peru, Illinois, newspaper. He wore an outrageous mustache and called himself “The Bremen Hustler”. He boosted the town and championed a water works and the standpipe and other improvements, just as Bowman had.

1891 – Cal Sinninger

But in December of 1892, Sinninger was brutally attacked by Louis Vilmer/Wilmer while conducting business in Hoople’s saloon. Allegedly at the urging of the Sunderlands, Vilmer kicked Sinninger in the groin then, when he was down, several times in the stomach and face. It took two years, but Sinninger won a $200 suit against his attacker in Elkhart circuit court. In the meantime, his wife horsewhipped the editor of the Bremen Standard for disparaging remarks printed about her. Sonn, the Sinningers left town, and Brook Bowman returned to Bremen to take over.

In 1902, Bowman again sold the paper, this time to Charles Scott, another local who had been involved in the publishing for some time. Scott sold out to Otto Fries (1879-1935) in 1907. Both hoped to raise the paper to “a higher plane” and to mold opinion. Like Bowman, one of the first things Fries did was to document the town. He published an extensive history in December of 1907 that, along with Bowman’s from 1887, serves as a primary source for the early history of the town.

1904 or so – Otto Fries

In 1909, Otto Fries sold the paper to Samuel M Gorrell (1859-1925), who came from Wells county and had recently run the Knox County Democrat. He built the Enquirer building on E Plymouth St in 1911; previously, the paper had been run out of second-floor offices in more-or-less whatever building offered the cheapest rent.

1911 – Enquirer building built with Wahl Monuments and Brougher Garage buildings

Gorrell published with the help of his sons, particularly James K “Ken” Gorrell (1887-1967), to whom he passed it along in 1919, retaining ownership until his death in 1925. The Gorrells modernized the paper. Gone were the humorous asides and snide blind items about fistfights or chewing gum or girls dressing as boys. Previously, the outfit rarely had the wherewithal to run its own photos or engravings.

1930 or so – James K Gorrell

Ken Gorrell ran the newspaper until his retirement in 1959, building it, in his 40 years as editor, into a respected publication honored as one of the six best by the Indiana State Weekly Press Association.

The paper was sold to his daughter and her husband: Jane and James Crittenden, who ran it as Enquirer Publishing Co. It was eventually sold to Pilot-News Group out of Plymouth, its current owner.